


Chasing Monsters

by AweburnPhoenix



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst, Cancer Arc, Canon Compliant, Comfort/Angst, Fishing, Fluff, Monsters, Sharing a Bed, Sharing a Room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 17:50:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18526564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AweburnPhoenix/pseuds/AweburnPhoenix
Summary: Scully has trouble with her motel heating and has to spend the night in Mulder's room. Feelings and thoughts arise.





	1. Follow the White Rabbit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [greekowl87](https://archiveofourown.org/users/greekowl87/gifts).



> Kelly—  
> When I read the prompt asked about "one bed, angst and fluff", my mind pondered immediately on a Cancer Arc Fic. I don't truly think there's anything angstier than that. Mulder caring for Scully and all of their untold feelings would provide for the fluff. I just needed to work around the one bed trope and everything started flowing.  
> I had such a great time writing this story and it made me realize how much I love the Cancer Arc and how little I've written about it, so thank you SO MUCH for this prompt.  
> I hope you have a good time reading it and that this is something along the lines of what you were waiting for. Enjoy!!
> 
> As always, I can't let you read without giving a HUGE shout-out to my betas: @admiralty & @berenbos you give such amazing feedback, this story owes you two so much <3
> 
> Without further delay, to the angsty fluff :P

The case was starting to piss her off, and they had barely started with it. The first days she had been feeling almost like herself again after about a month of harsh chemotherapy and she was spending them in the middle of nowhere in the lovely state of Montana.

Scully had insisted on coming so she couldn't even blame Mulder for it. Surprisingly appearing at the office on that Monday morning, she had felt ready to dive into a case when Mulder told her that he was about to leave on a "monster hunt", not having expected her for another week. He had insisted she sat that one out, it was probably nothing. But Scully wouldn't have any of it, she wanted to be out in the field.

So there she was, in the town of Lakeside, after spending the afternoon performing an autopsy at the county seat, about 15 miles away from their reserved lodging. There had been reports of some missing people and one had been found dead on the west side of Flathead Lake. So obviously Mulder had decided to go check on the mythological Flathead Lake Monster. No surprise here at all. Why she had been so stubborn in following him still escaped her.

When she finally made it to her motel room it was almost midnight. She still had to show her reports to Mulder when the only thing she wanted to do was take a hot shower and sleep for two days straight. But that would have to wait. She took the key from the ignition and walked towards Mulder's room.

Knock, knock, knock. She could have come in without knocking, he was expecting her, but it was not the first time she had found him wearing fewer clothes than she should be allowed to see. Not that she was bothered, though.

"Come in!" He yelled from the inside and she quickly entered his room, rubbing her arms to get warmer.

It was late July and the weather should have been nicer, but apparently Montana was not one of the nicer states to be around in summer. And being on lake shore made the temperature even colder.

"So, how was the autopsy?" Mulder asked her from his little desk in the room, not looking at her yet, while scribbling some notes on his papers.

Once he turned around, she could see his face change in a matter of seconds when he saw her standing in the middle of his room. She must be looking like crap.

"I shouldn't have let you come," he uttered with a somber tone, lowering his sight.

"I'm fine." It was her answer to everything lately, and it came so easily to her lips that she didn't feel like she was lying anymore. She was always fine, even when she really wasn't.

"No, you're not…" He couldn't help it anymore and rushed out from his chair, then walked towards her.

"Mulder, not again," Scully interrupted him before he could rant about the situation.

That pent-up anger he'd been carrying around these last months wasn't doing him any good. Because there was nothing he could do. There was nothing she could do but keep on fighting. And she was doing so. She was staying strong, moving around that deadly illness that was slowly wrecking her on the inside. There was no way she'd let it destroy her life, her job. She was going to stay in the field for as long as she could. And then a little longer.

He knew that, they had talked about it. And as much as he'd try to persuade her to stay away, to live her life, enjoy the ride, she had assured him that what she wanted to do was this. She had a commitment to the job, with all the people they could save. Together.

That always seemed to calm him down from his anger bursts, and lately she wouldn't even have to utter the words over and over as she had to do before. One look into her eyes and he would know.

"Have you eaten? No, you haven't, of course." Mulder asked and answered himself, muttering that second sentence. She hated him being so overprotective, and they had argued about it a lot. He had promised to try not to be so annoying and let her handle things her way. But sometimes he forgot, and Scully didn’t feel like fighting tonight.

She was barely hungry lately. And even when she was, she usually fed herself badly, food not wanting to get in easily. She'd take her vitamins and supplements but he could always tell when she wasn't nourishing herself as well as she should. Damn Mulder and his profiling skills. There was no use in lying.

"Here, have some of my pizza. I went overboard, as usual." He shrugged, quickly turning around, and she immediately knew he had ordered more food than he could eat so as to save some for her, as usual. "It's still warm, I think…" He offered her the cardboard container sheepishly. Scully was amazed at how easily he could go from rage binge to boyish bashfulness. It was kinda cute.

"Thanks." Scully made an effort to smile, she knew how much it calmed him to take care of her. She doubted she would be able to eat much, but she tried, for him. She handed him the autopsy folder while she grabbed the warm cardboard, smiling at the sight of vegetables and mushrooms: of course he had chosen her favorite. Mulder went over her notes while she pretended to have some dinner.

She couldn't admit it, but being around him was actually a source of strength: his drive in the cases and his energy. He gave her as much life as all the chemo and pills she was taking. That was really why she had insisted on coming with him. Even when she knew they'd find no monster at all. The days she had to stay at home and away from him were the saddest of all. She had become so used to his presence, to his puns… She wouldn't tell him, and neither did she like to think about it, it was too risky. Especially now. She couldn't put him through that. She couldn't put them through that.

She was worried she had started developing some feelings she needed to keep at bay. It was all probably because of that fucking disease and the tick-tock of her life clock. Memories of sleeping with Ed Jerse dazed her mind, her judgment had been so clouded. And although she had enjoyed herself that night, she had regretted it a couple of days later.

But she feared this was different. It was not reckless behavior triggered by the fear of dying. It had all started the day Van Blundht had almost deceived her. She hadn't talked to Mulder about it, she was so embarrassed, and surely he was too. But something changed between them, especially after they visited him in the Reformatory. Mulder started coming to her place more regularly. And she couldn't shake the thought that she hadn't escaped Eddie-disguised-as-Mulder's advances. She had secretly wanted him to kiss her. It really disturbed her, how sometimes she found herself longing for Mulder to kiss her now. What was wrong with her? He was her friend, her partner. It was crazy, it shouldn't happen. Luckily he wouldn't try, it was not like that for him.

"Okay, I think 2 a.m. is high time to call it a day, isn't it?" Mulder suddenly said and she couldn't believe time had flown so fast. She still wanted to have a shower before bed, catch some decent sleep time and be up at 6.30 tops to go on with the investigation… Damn it!

"See you tomorrow," Scully said as she quickly grabbed her things and rushed out to the next door.


	2. Just for Tonight

The air was even colder now, and the mere seconds she was outside between rooms were enough for her body to start freezing. All she could think about at the moment what that hot steamy shower. She left her things on the room's armchair and turned on the hot water in the bathroom. Quickly, she fidgeted with the air conditioning in the room. It was cold from having been empty for the whole day and she turned the temperature a couple of degrees up. The last thing she needed was to fall asleep in a cold room.

As much as she felt like having a long bath she knew she didn't have the time, so after a good fifteen minutes under the water current, she decided enough was enough and turned off the faucet, quickly dried herself, put on her pajamas and blow-dried her hair. She moved as quickly as her tired body would let her and when she finally left the bathroom to get some well-deserved sleep, she was slapped with a cold gust when she opened the door to the main room. What was happening? Hadn't she turned up the temperature? Scully checked the thermostat again and noticed it was blank. She fiddled with all the buttons but it was completely dead.

"Damn my luck," she muttered to herself turning around and going to the wardrobe. She was quickly losing temperature, even though she was wearing her night robe on top of her pajamas. She realized if she didn’t solve the situation fast, she'd be shivering soon.

"No, no, no…" She cried at the empty closet. How had they ended up in a motel with no night-hours clerk and no extra blankets? Maybe it was just her room. Maybe Mulder would have some. She looked at her clock. It was almost 3 a.m. Really, how had she lost so much time? Surely he wouldn't still be awake. As much of a short sleeper he was, he had that amazing ability to quickly fall asleep as soon as he hit the bed. 

Maybe she'd get warm if she got into bed. Scully quickly wrapped herself with the bed linen and curled up, trying to maintain all of her body heat. Minutes passed and she didn't feel any warmer. On the contrary, she started trembling soon after and she realized she wouldn't be able to sleep like that.

"Damn you, Montana!" She yelled at the cold empty room getting up and wrapping the blanket around herself. No way she was walking outside without all of her warming layers.

And there she stood, for a second, in front of Mulder's door before pounding on it loudly and calling his name. Soon enough he was at the door, just wearing his pajama pants and looking quite sleepy.

"What's wrong? Can't you sleep? Come in, it's cold outside." He quickly woke up at the sight of her distress.

"My thermostat is broken and my room doesn't have any spare blankets. Could I get one from you?" There she was, again, standing in the middle of his room, at 3 a.m., helpless as ever. She didn't like this kind of situation, asking for help, being weak and not in control.

Mulder must have sensed her discomfort and quickly moved to his closet, looking for that spare blanket. But it was as empty as hers.

"I'm afraid there's none, Scully." He turned around, empty-handed and rubbing his nape. "But you can have this one, I'll put on my pajama top."

He started removing the blanket from his bed but she stopped him.

"No, no way, I don't want you to be cold either." Placing her hand over his she noticed the warmth on his body. It was electric, it was soothing, it was all she needed to feel fine.

No! Don't go there, she shut up her thoughts.

"Or we can swap rooms, I can sleep anywhere, you know—"

"At this hour of the night? Mulder, we need to get up in like 3 hours."

Mulder looked at his bed out of the corner of his eye.

 _Or we can both sleep here,_ he didn't need to say it.

During their four years together, it had been done on very rare occasions, when no other option was available. Just a couple times, some years back, they had had to share a room when they had found themselves in the middle of nowhere. The first time, they were lucky enough and it was a motel room with two beds. The second time, the bed was large enough to fit 3 people, and they both slept by the edges.

Something told her it wouldn't be like that tonight. She was still feeling cold, and she could see he was struggling not to hug her right there and then. He had been doing that a lot lately. And although she felt highly awkward about it, it was also the most comfortable feeling. Whenever the treatment was not going great, whenever she had a falloff, the easiest way to make her feel better was Mulder's hug. They would never talk about it but he knew how they helped and wouldn't scrimp on them.

"Get in," he finally nodded and she didn't fight him. She was tired, she needed her sleep so badly.

"Just for tonight," she muttered, quickly folding the blanket she was still wrapped in and leaving it at the base of the bed, just in case, although she knew they wouldn't need it. Mulder's room was warm enough and, well, two bodies under a blanket provided enough body heat for a comfortable sleep. She would surely regret this decision the following day, but her mind was tired enough to yield to necessity. Scully quickly slipped underneath the sheets and nestled by the edge of the bed, leaning on her right side, giving her back to Mulder.

"You feeling better?" She heard his soft voice at her back and her whole body shivered.

"Yes, I'm warm already. Thank you—"

"You're still shivering, Scully, come here," he commanded moving closer.

"Mulder—" She tried to fight him though she knew it was no use.

"Just until you warm up. I promise I'll behave." He was mere inches from her and his warm breath at the base of her neck was giving her the wrong kind of heat.

"Okay," she accepted defeat, pushing her body backward, stumbling into him. Anything to get him to shut up.

His body heat, his chest breathing calmly at her back, his arm around her waist, was apparently everything she needed to fall asleep on the spot.

 


	3. You Should Live a Little

There must have been some noise outside because Mulder woke up startled, and his current status didn't help to calm him down. He was still hugging Scully and his morning hard-on was poking out at her back. He was terrified, only hoping that she was still asleep and hadn't noticed. If she did, she would probably use her cold medical-doctor mind and diminish the importance of it being a perfectly normal biological reaction. But he couldn't have that, the last thing he needed was to make her feel uncomfortable. Mulder had promised to behave. And he wanted her to know she could trust him. He had been pushing through her walls lately, and he couldn't risk being shut out again. It was so important that she talked to him, he didn't want to be left out of her state of mind, of how her disease was developing.

With a swift move, he backed away and jumped out of the bed. It was still early to start the day, but he had to take care of that unexpected guest before Scully woke up. Mulder tiptoed towards the bathroom while taking a quick glance at Scully. He was relieved to see that she seemed sound asleep.

As quietly as he could, he closed the door and thought about his options. The easiest thing would be to jerk off and try to get back to sleep; this time, staying on his side of the bed. He couldn't have her wake up to his erection. Holding Scully through the night had been so nice. He could be sure she was okay, she was real, she was still with him… Still. No, he pushed that thought away from his mind. She was going to get through her illness, he'd see to it.

Anyhow, to the matter at hand. He was about to pull his member out when he started thinking it might not be such a good idea. He could be quiet, but what if Scully heard him? No, he just couldn't. He could fantasize as much as he wanted in the privacy of his apartment, or when they were staying in adjoining rooms. But no way he could do it with Scully in his room, in his bed.

So, plan B. He moved quickly to turn on the cold water faucet when he realized it would be too noisy. He wanted Scully to keep sleeping, maybe she still had an hour of rest left. She deserved it after the long hours she had done the day before, they would probably have a similarly packed day ahead today. And, let's be honest, maybe showering and going back to bed was not the best idea, she might wonder about it.

That left him with plan C. Mulder tiptoed back into the room, grabbed his trainers and running garments and went back into the bathroom to get changed. Yes, that would fix the downstairs department problem and clear his mind from his worry about her. He'd also get an early start on working on the case, he'd let his brain wander around all the details he had gathered the day before.

After quickly scribbling a note for Scully, he left the room.

Mulder had arrived in the little town late the day before, so he didn't know it well enough to decide where to turn to. And being 5:30 in the morning, there was not a soul around to ask. So, he decided to head west, inside the town and up the mountains. Just a couple minutes of brisk jogging would get his matter solved, but he knew Scully would appreciate sleeping a little bit more, so he decided to run for about an hour.

Mulder passed the church, the school and soon he was up an unpaved road. It was a lovely place, homely and calm; minus the last death, of course. He wouldn't mind living in a town like this one. That was why he had been drawn to the case in the first place. The legendary monster was an addition, but what really dragged him in this kind of cases was the annoying disturbance that hit little cozy places like this one. He knew it was probably just a coincidence, but he liked escaping the city for a while. He hadn't intended to bring Scully with him. She was supposed to stay on her sick leave for another week. What was she doing up and around already? She needed her rest, damn woman and her stubbornness to keep working.

Mulder's anger at the situation prevented him from pacing his run and soon he found himself out of breath, so he had to stop for a second. Running uphill without focusing was not a good idea, he was surpassing his limits. Lately, he hadn't been training as much as he should. Being constantly worried and, why not say it, missing Scully, he spent so much time at her place. He so much needed to make sure she was okay and not needing something. The rest of his day he spent working as usual and his extra time was allotted to finding a cure for her cancer. The gunmen were helping him with that, searching the depths of the dark web and their immense network of contacts… But nothing was showing up. As had happened with their research about her ova, every path that seemed to get to a solution ended up being a dead end. However, Mulder wasn't going to rest until that damned disease was completely gone. There had to be a way.

 _You should live a little. Treat yourself. God knows I would if I were you._ Van Blundht's words pounded in his head day after day. He wanted to, but there were things to be done first. He couldn't get distracted.

And he almost got to kiss her. That image haunted him night and day. He was angry at the guy for having stolen his identity, for almost… almost having done what he was too chicken to try. Seeing himself so close to Scully, her being okay with it had both pissed him off and given him hope. Why hadn't he tried it yet? Because he knew he didn't deserve her, that was why. She had been sent to spy on him, to trash his work. Instead, she had become his best ally. And all he had done for her was get her sister killed and given her deadly disease. How could he ask her to love him? It was already a miracle that she stood by his side instead of leaving him for good. Maybe, just maybe, he could convince her he was worthy of her. But first he had to fix what he had messed up.

Starting with this nonsense case. The body that had been found at lakeshore had apparently been killed inland by a wolf or a coyote and then ended up, somehow, in the water. So it was totally unrelated to the disappearance of the couple. They had rented a boat at Lakeside and never came back there, or any other port around the lake. A search party had been sent and neither the bodies nor the boat had been found. The monster tale had resurfaced after years of it being almost forgotten and the story had reached Mulder's ears. It was one of those cases that he had long wanted to take a closer look at. And now that he was finally here, he wished more than ever that the tourists were found and he was able to go back to Washington.

Mulder took a look at his clock. It was 6 a.m. already, so he turned and started to go back along.

 


	4. Breathe

Scully was peacefully woken up by the sun rising. She knew she hadn't gotten enough sleep but she felt well rested. Everything would be fine if she managed to get to bed early the following night.

Opening her eyes she suddenly remembered that she was in Mulder's room. Turning around she realized he was not in the bed and she stopped a moment to listen, figuring out he wasn't in the bathroom either. Where would he have gone so early? Turning back around to get up, she found that red little puddle she was increasingly finding every morning on her pillow.

"Shit!" she yelled rubbing her nose to see if she was still bleeding while she got up, feeling sick for a moment and having to sit back down.

She should have known better than to get up so quickly, but she was not used to being that weak and fragile. While she waited for the moment to pass, she noticed the note stuck at the door. Apparently, Mulder had left for a morning run. Perfect. That might get her the time she needed to hide that bloody spot. He couldn't see it, or he would send her right back to Washington. She wanted to finish the case, she needed to stay there a little bit longer. Being away from home rested her mind, made her escape reality, the papers and personal medical reports that piled up at her home desk.

Finally feeling ready, she grabbed the pillow and moved as quickly as her body let her towards her room. She'd swap his with hers and Mulder would never know. Holding his pillow with one hand while she opened her door with the other, she could still smell Mulder's scent on it. She breathed in it for a second before leaving it on her bed and grabbing her own. Hopefully, his pillow would still smell like him by nighttime…

 _Dana! Stop it!_ She scolded herself walking back to Mulder's room to leave the unused one on the bed.

She was grabbing her blanket, ready to leave to get ready for the day, when Mulder's phone rang. It was the sheriff's office, so she decided to take it.

When she hung up, she didn't know whether to be happy or sad. Apparently, the missing tourists had been found. They had sunk the boat but had left town not wanting to pay for the damages since they had forged their license. Scully snorted. Why did some people think sailing a boat was that easy? She sat down sighing while leaving the phone on the desk. As soon as Mulder arrived, she would tell him and they would be packing to head back home.

Scully was relieved that the case was over. However, she had been really looking forward to the sailing they had planned for that morning to do their own search of the lake. It had been a year since she had last steered a boat and she had loved it. It brought some sad feelings about poor Queequeg, and mostly sailing with her father as a kid. But being on the water was kinda soothing.

What if they stayed anyway? Maybe they could go fishing? It would only take her a few minutes to get a couple of fishing licenses… Scully quickly stopped that line of thinking. It was totally unprofessional to stay there once the case had been solved, but what if that was the last chance she had of driving a boat?

Scully pushed that threatening feeling away, she didn’t want to stall for too long on those scary thoughts. She quickly scribbled a note for Mulder to come see her when he was back and headed to her room to get dressed.

About fifteen minutes later she heard the pounding at her door.

"Just a sec!" She yelled while zipping up her jeans and grabbing her jumper. She quickly pulled it over her head and arms before opening the door.

"So, casual Scully we get today?" Mulder said as he saw her not so formal outfit.

He hadn't changed from his run. He still wore his t-shirt and shorts, and he was drying his sweat with a towel around his neck.

"Come in, you're going to freeze," Scully begged him, moving to her side and letting him in, but he wouldn't move.

"I don't want to get your room all dirty and smelly," he refused.

But what if she wanted to have his smell—

"The case is closed." Scully fought to keep her cool. "They found the tourists. We can head back home, unless…"

She stopped. When she said they could leave she saw relief in his face, his mouth curving upwards in a half smile. It was a bad idea. She should leave it at that.

"Unless?" He encouraged her to go on, raising his eyebrows.

"Unless you want to make the most of the boat we already rented and see if we can spot the monster?" She finished her sentence slightly abashed.

Mulder hit his chest with his right hand and smiled in astonishment.

"Dana Katherine Scully wants to go monster hunting? Did I hear that right?"

"I thought maybe we could go check those famous Painted Rocks, since the boat is already paid for."

What was she doing? This was crazy, unprofessional and—

"Say no more!" His smile grew wider. "I'll shower and get dressed before you change your mind. I'll be back in five minutes!" He yelled and quickly entered his room.

Scully closed the door and smiled in spite of herself. No doubt Mulder would be at her door shortly, excited like a puppy ready for his morning walk.

She finished getting ready without hurrying too much, since she was almost done. There was no use in trying to tame her hair. As soon as they left shore it would get frizzy because of the humidity. So she decided to hold it as best she could in a low ponytail, and then grabbed a jacket. As the sun was going up in the sky, the temperature was getting warm already, but she wanted to be prepared, just in case.

She left her room, deciding to head towards the lodge to tell the manager about the heating problem in her room when she heard Mulder yelling inside his own.

"Don't you dare leave me behind! I'm ready!" He called for her, already opening his door, while he put on his t-shirt. Damn, his belly was so firm… Dana! She forced herself to look upwards, being thankful that he hadn't noticed her glance slip since he was dressing. Why were her hormones being so annoying today?

"So, are we all set, Captain?" Mulder brought her back from her thoughts giving her a loud salute.

"Does that mean I call the shots today?" She couldn't help but smile at his childish behavior.

"You're always the high command here, Scully."

 


	5. May I Join You

Mulder was having such a great time, and something told him Scully was enjoying herself as much. After all those long months checking in and out of the hospital, awful cases and fear, having a sunny day off was like a gift.

First, they headed south towards the "Painted Rocks”. Scully seemed really interested in checking those, them being rock cliffs with early Native American pictographs. As the leaflet she had taken from the motel lodge said, they were about 3,000 years old. An impressive age for painting being outdoors. Mulder remembered his father having to repaint the outside walls of the house at The Vineyard almost every summer.

Once her curiosity about that was satisfied, she agreed to steer the boat a little bit more southerly, towards the point he had marked as the one with the most sightings of the monster. She wouldn't miss the chance to roll her eyes at him, but she tolerated his excitement nonetheless. Mulder was happily surprised. About a year before she was so mad at him for dragging her on a monster hunt. But he had learned the lesson: don't hide your purpose, and she might follow gladly. As much as he had tried to avoid her coming this time, not wanting her to get tired over nothing, he was so glad she had decided to join him of her own free will.

They spent about two hours wandering around the marked zone, and unfortunately, they didn't see any monster. Oddly enough, they were not the only ones in the lake looking for the beast. Apparently, summer was high season to catch this particular monster and a good half a dozen other boats were roaming around the area. It was kinda funny getting Scully all worked up whenever people stopped and asked about their reason for being there. Mulder quickly told everybody they were doing a trip around the country chasing monsters. As if. It didn't fall too far from reality, though.

After a while, Mulder was, in fact, bored of looking through his binoculars without the tiniest movement in sight. However, he wouldn't say, he didn't want to leave yet. He was enjoying the nice weather and the small talk with Scully and other people around.

He was falling asleep on the rail when he was startled by Scully going through some equipment at the stern of the boat. Looking back, he saw her taking out a fishing rod. He tried not to move so that she wouldn't notice him looking, and was mesmerized at her confidence. Quite easily she cut some line, wrapped and tied it to the pole, knotted a hook, and soon enough she was casting the line out with such grace that Mulder thought she could have been a 50-year-old fisherman. Was there anything Scully didn't know about? He kept staring at her longer than he probably should, but seeing her so relaxed and content was a pleasure to his eyes.

Eventually, Mulder realized that what she was doing (even if she was mainly looking at the still water, no fish showing up) was way more interesting than stubbornly looking for a non-existent monster. So he decided to give up.

"May I join you?" Mulder left the binoculars aside and approached Scully, his hands shyly in his pockets.

"Sure, there are a couple more rods back there." She smiled back at him, probably happy he had relinquished his stubborn search.

"I, uhm…" Mulder rubbed his head in bewilderment. "I'm gonna need some help with setting it up."

"You've never gone fishing? I can't believe your father…"

Her words somehow stung, and she realized so before ever finishing the sentence. Although he reassured her that it was okay, she spoke no more of it.

Mulder had always thought that fishing was no big deal, until he had to tie the hook on the line. The number of knots available shocked him, and it took him a little while to learn to do a basic one. He'd never say it, but he was playing a little bit dumb. It made him so happy to see Scully so focused on teaching him. The lots of smiles and laughs she uttered when his knots came out messy made up for every second he had spent the night before hating himself for having dragged her out there.

The fish were not particularly biting, and Scully moved the boat around several times. It was not the best time of the day to go fishing, but they were just passing the time and enjoying the sun, so the mere casting of lines and going around in circles was worth it.

By the end of the day, Mulder hadn't pulled out anything, while Scully had managed to catch half a dozen small lake trouts and a whitefish. Mulder wouldn't say it, but he couldn't tell one from the other. What made him love her even more, if that was even possible, was the considerate way in which Scully unhooked every catch and gently let them back in the water.

Being relaxed and enjoying themselves, they completely lost track of time. They only realized they had to go back when they noticed the sun going down. It took them almost an hour to return to the Boat Rental since they had sailed to the south zone of the lake. Scully sped up the boat and they managed to be back on time to return it before the Rental was closed.

However, they weren't as lucky at the motel. The Reception Desk working hours were quite short, and by the time they got there, the clerk was already gone.

"Damn it!" Scully yelled and punched at the closed door.

Mulder was immediately sorry for having dragged her all the way down to the lake. He felt responsible for them being late, for having rushed her to the lake that morning, for not having remembered to ask the clerk to fix her air conditioning unit or for a blanket before leaving…

"It's all my fault, I'm so sorry Scully," he started apologizing even if he knew it wouldn't solve anything. They had had a wondrous day, and he had just managed to ruin it, as always, for being so careless.

"It's okay, Mulder, I should have made sure to fix my room before leaving this morning, it's not your fault," she replied and placed a hand over his. "Maybe I'll be lucky and it might be fixed. Anyway, it's warmer today. I'm sure it'll be okay," she added walking towards her room.

"I wanna have a shower," she said after a couple of steps. "Meet you in 20 to go have some dinner?"

"Sure! I'll ask around for a nice place. My treat!" Mulder tried to brighten the mood. It was the least he could do. He was determined not to let the day end on a somber note.

 

Fifteen minutes later Mulder was already waiting at Scully's door, all dressed up and with a reservation at a nice restaurant the gas station guy had recommended. It was outside of town, in a close location, just about a 15-minute drive. The guy had assured Mulder that it was the perfect place to take the _missus_. Mulder chuckled, he would never get tired of having Scully referred to as his wife. If only he could ever get there!

He was leaning lazily on the outside wall but he stood upright as soon as he heard her door opening. She had dressed casually but looked as beautiful as ever; even those last months, when her illness was showing out. Some days he could notice her body shriveling, her paler face, her spirits down, her losing weight. But she always managed to show up right as rain. Mulder knew she didn't want people's sympathy, she wanted to hide her actual state. And he was always mad when he realized she was hiding things from him. He was her partner, her friend. He expected her to tell him how she really felt, how her illness was developing. Mulder was slowly but surely scratching through Scully's walls. But it was a tough and slow task, and he always doubted whether he was going to have enough time to make her fully trust him.

"You look fantastic,” he couldn’t help uttering as she left her room. _I’m such a lucky bastard, everybody is gonna be so jealous of me._ He felt driven to offer his elbow for her to hold, but he knew it would be too much. What he wouldn’t give to be that close to her! Instead, he used his standard method of guiding her out by placing his hand on her back. That was as far as she would let him go for now, and he would gladly take it over nothing.

The gasoline station worker had been right. The place he had recommended was a rustic restaurant but really elegant. The food was delicious and the service was lovely, so after a little while, they both recovered the relaxed vibe they had had during the day. It was working so well.

They didn't extend the evening too much. Their flight the following morning was quite early, and they had a half an hour drive to the airport. So as soon as they finished their meal, they were back at the motel. Mulder walked Scully to her room, he wanted to make sure it had the correct temperature for her to sleep in. It was not that he didn't trust her to tell him, but he was sure she might risk sleeping uncomfortably rather than bothering him a second night in a row. Not that it was a bother for him, in fact, but that she would never really know.

"Scully, this room is too cold, you can't sleep here," he said rushing his way in before she even let him.

"It's okay, don't worry. It's just one night. I'll be fine," she tried to convince him to stay at the door, hinting for him to get out.

But Mulder wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Then we'll exchange rooms, I really won't risk you getting sick over this," Mulder crossed his arms at his chest and tried to look as serious as ever. She was stubborn, but he could be so too. And dealing with her health, he had no intention of throwing in the towel.

"That's stupid, we are moving out in the morning, it makes no sense going through all the ordeal of—"

"Then it's settled. Grab your pajamas, you're sleeping in my bed again."

As the words left his mouth, Mulder gasped for a second. That sentence had probably come out wrong, and he didn't want Scully to feel uncomfortable. But looking at her, he thought he could see some kind of relief and happiness in her eyes. Could it be she was wanting this all along? Surely not, but there was a chance.

"Okay, okay, I don't wanna fight," she said rolling her eyes. There it was, that was more like her. Probably he had imagined it all along.

He let her use the bathroom first and get ready, so when he finally got into bed, she was already lying on her right side and again at the edge of the bed. Mulder turned off the lights and started thinking about how he could manage to get to hold her again. It had been so relieving to be able to feel her body close to his, her heart beating, her relaxed breathing… Nothing like the nervous breathing he was listening to now. She had something going around in her head.

"I can hear you thinking," he chuckled.

"Maybe, uhm, could you…" _hold me?_ He guessed, the words seemed stuck at her throat. He knew how uncomfortable she was whenever she had to ask for anything, so he spared her the trouble to need to utter the words by quickly moving closer and waiting for her to move towards him. Mulder hugged her like the night before as soon as her body touched his.

"Just for tonight, right?" He bounced yesterday's words back at her, but she seemed not to mind. In fact, as soon as his arms were around her, he felt her relief, breathing peacefully.

"Good night, Scully."

Someday, soon, he would tell her about his feelings. But not tonight. It had been such a great day to ruin it with heavy talk. Tonight he would just be content knowing she had enjoyed herself, knowing she was indeed fine, and sleeping in his arms.

 


End file.
